


ATEOSE: s a n i t y

by lavendermatrix



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Black Blood, Blood, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Madness, Mild Gore, Mind Control, Violence, ish, written for reverb 2017!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 11:39:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11462832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavendermatrix/pseuds/lavendermatrix
Summary: Death City, Nevada.Former battleground of the Battle of the Moon. Things were still peaceful after the events of the Battle on the Moon. That peace is quickly shattered when Medusa unknowingly survived Crona's assault and sets her eyes on the new Shinigami.Things are bound to go haywire.





	ATEOSE: s a n i t y

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello! This was written for Reverb 2017! 
> 
> This was my first Reverb and writing this has been a total blast, lemme tell ya. 
> 
> My beautiful partner daciafu (find her at daciafu.tumblr.com) has been incredibly patient with my schedule this summer and I feel incredibly blessed (no joke) to have worked with her you can find her art accompanying this work thru here: https://tmblr.co/Zk5tCy2Nf1XLg
> 
> I want to thank the Reverb mods this year, for putting this event together, and for supporting and giving us all the help we needed. Lots of love to all of you and a job well done, guys. 
> 
> Without further ado, I present to you: 
> 
> ATEOSE: s a n i t y
> 
> I also want to thank my betas: Sahdah, Aeriel and Haruka. Thank you for looking this over and giving me the support to finish this. You all deserve infinite hugs and cookies.

For the first time in a (too) long while, Death City has been… 

Quiet. 

Granted, the city was fresh off of Asura’s assault that nearly plunged the world into Madness. None of the citizens (or Kid, for the matter) expected a disruption for at a long while. 

They could get used to this peace-like quiet.

Death the Kid hasn’t gotten accustomed yet. Granted, it’s been a couple of days since the victory mission on the Moon, but he’d very much rather be outside in the fresh open air either supervising the reconstruction to the City or supervising a mission. He definitely misses the fresh open air the moment he eyes the towering pile of papers on his desk. 

Because for the past couple of days, all he’s been seeing are papers and papers and even more papers.

“It’s just stuff for the record, Kid.” Azusa would say when she brought him today’s pile early in the morning, trying not to take pity on his tired face and drooping eyelids. “Your father went through the same thing when he ascended. Besides, this is the start of a new era! A new Shinigami, a brand-new Death City! So, don’t worry, everybody in this city and the world will support you for this.”

“Thanks, Azusa.” He chuckled.

He supposes she’s right. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At first, Medusa was shocked over the victory on the Moon. She hadn’t expected those kids to really overcome the Madness Crona and Kishin Asura had caused. Hell, she expected at least one of them to wind up dead. And yet, they all survived. Bruised and bloody, but they survived. 

She was there, hidden in the shadow of an alley, during the celebration to name Death the Kid the new Shinigami and there to witness the naming of the Last Death Scythe. The same Death Scythe who has learned to overcome the effects of her Black Blood thanks to that silly meister of his. 

She’s been itching to do something: something new! Her child was stuck on the moon and she wishes they were back just so she can tweak and further her experiments. That Soul Eater guy is already a Death Scythe, and even though she knows that the Black Blood is still inside of him, she’ll have to interact from someplace else if she wishes to stir up his dormant Madness

“Although it’s highly unlikely, thanks to his more stable wavelength and his meister’s guidance.” Her voice of reason would spit at herself whenever she got carried away with an idea that’s too good. 

Fuck that guy.

And that Shinigami…

He’s new, a byproduct in the Battle of the Moon and of his late father’s first failure with Kishin Asura. The same Asura who wreaked havoc no less than a week ago…

Wait… 

Oh, she could definitely use this. 

There’s that giddy feeling again. 

“Don’t get too carried away, fufufu…”

Shut the hell up.

Oh, has she not felt this good in a while. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“You know what’s kind of weird?” 

“What?”

“That there aren’t gonna be any more Death Scythes after me. Like, Kid named me the “Last Death Scythe”.”

She peers at him from the kitchen, meeting his eyes as they look up at her expectantly. “Well, I mean, there aren’t going to be more Kishins like Asura anymore. Any of the remaining Kishin Eggs would be destroyed by one of us or somebody else at Shibusen. And to top that off, witches are on our side now. It’d be unfair to kill them at this point.” She wonders aloud while she turns back to focus on dinner. 

Soul thinks about that for a moment. 

“I guess you’re right.” He yawns out. 

He lets his eyes close drifts his head to the top of the couch, letting the spicy smell of dinner waft over. He hears the shuffling of her slippers as she makes her way back to the living room.   
“What’re you reading?” She nods at the book spread open on his lap, his thumb marking the page instead of dog-earring it (which would result in a Maka Chop).

“Just the sequel to a series I found in your room while I cleaned.” He stills for a second and then continues, “You know, I just can’t understand why she would leave the society? She’s living the perfect life there and she doesn’t gotta do anything to fix her problems. There’s people who will fix her problems for her.”

“Rant all you want, but it’s why she left the society.” She quips smartly “Imagine if you were being watched all the time by the government, and they had every say in who you were, what you did, and how to be. I mean, I’d get tired of it and blow a gasket the first hour.” She rambles on. 

Soul lets out an exaggerated sigh and stands up to shelf the book for the time being. “How long ‘till dinner, Maka?” 

“Dinner’s almost ready, we just need to let it simmer for a while.”

“M’kay.”

\-------------

Four helpings of curry later, the Thing pops into Maka’s head as she halts her eating. 

“Maka, what’s wro-?” 

“Shoot! I forgot!” She exclaimed, “I promised Kid that we would go over tonight to help him with his stuff! Soul, can you take me over to the campus to meet him there?”

“Sure, I don’t mind. Poor guy can’t catch a break anyways; It’s better if we help him” He said in between bites.

“Dude,” Maka starts

“Yeah…?” 

“Are you full now? Because that’s like, your third bowl of curry.” She began while standing up. 

“And your point is…?” He implored

“Nothing, just glad you haven’t changed yet, you weirdo.” She quips, along with that spark in her eyes.

He barks out a laugh, tossing his head back and exposing a mouthful of half-chewed curry. 

“Of course not! If I’m the coolest Death Scythe, why would I ever change for the coolest meister?” He flashes out his thousand-watt grin.

She feels her cheeks redden just a bit. “Let’s get going before he thinks we ditched him, weirdo.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If he sees another paper from Shibusen, he’s probably going to blow a gasket. 

His back aches thanks to being hunched over his desk all day, powering through his workload and wishing he could just go outside without the responsibility of that itching the back of his mind. 

He just wishes he could be hanging out with Liz and Patty. As per usual, they would ask him how his day went, and he does enjoy hanging out with them after a tedious day, even if it’s just for a little while. The brief moment he has with them is enough to alleviate the tension in his shoulders while they rambled how awesome Venice was in their last mission. 

His phone flashes to display the time: 8:34pm. Maka had texted him a while ago, saying that she and Soul are on their way. 

He really appreciates his friends coming in through the clutch with his largest milestone to date. 

As if by miracle, Maka knocks on the door to his study in the mansion. Liz and/or Patty must’ve let Maka and Soul through, and he was so preoccupied in his worries he didn’t really hear it. 

“Come on in, guys!” he yells out.

It’s a big study, after all.

“Hello, hello Lord Death! Sorry we’re late, Soul wouldn’t stop whining about having to wash the dishes and he got distracted on the way.” Maka sheepishly quipped

Soul, entering after his meister, looks a bit embarrassed. “Well, at least we got here, so stop complainin’. What’s up, Kid?” Soul retorted

“Soul! He’s the Shinigami now, at least address him respectfully!”

“Oh please, Maka, you know I don’t mind that. I can make a special exception for my friends. I’m fine, by the way. Just almost done with this bunch. Thanks for coming by, by the way.”

“Of course! We’d be happy to help anytime! So, what’d you need help with?” Maka asks as she strides over to his desk.

“Yo! Kid, I’m gonna grab a soda from the kitchen, want anything?” Soul interrupts

“If you’d be kind enough to bring over a glass of water, I’d appreciate it.”

Soul hums out in affirmatory and goes over to the kitchen.

Medusa has exactly twenty seconds for her little feat to go. 

There’s an open window in the kitchen, and while the Death Scythe has his back turned (he took a call from Black*Star), Medusa sneaks in the small vial into Kid’s glass of water.

The black, inky substance is a catalyst of some of her Black Blood.

It fades neatly, and seems as if it weren’t there. 

She sneaks out as Soul is pressing end to the call.

She just strolls, taking in the calm Death City has to offer after the Battle on the Moon. 

This calm won’t last for long, though. 

She’s all giddy for now, her body ringing with tingles. 

Her feet stroll through the soft sand of the outskirts of Death City. 

She waits.

And waits. 

She waits until she’s at a safe distance to release her Soul Protect.

And there’s when the first explosion goes off. 

She finally turns around, and sees a small, faint red light at the top of the DWMA. 

There’s an itch at the back of her mind.

“What the hell do we have here, huh?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He’s tossing. 

He’s turning.

His mind is in turmoil and he can’t find a reason for this all disorder in his mind. He shoots up the bed and scrambles to turn on the lamp beside his bed. He checks around his surroundings to find some sort of comfort in the symmetry he knows he left the bedroom in: bedsheets still immaculately tucked at the sides (despite his weight at the smack center of the king mattress), skull portrait placed at the exact middle of the wall, all books sorted by color in his bookcase, and (he pushes his soul perception just to check, just to check) he feels his weapons’ souls resting in deep slumber down the hall. 

They’re still breathing.

So why does it still feel like he’s drowning in something thicker than water?

Everything’s okay.

Peace is reigning Death City (and the world) at this moment and forevermore.

Calm down, Kid. 

He takes a deep breath, smoothing out the front of his pajamas as he sinks back to the bed. He’ll keep the light on tonight, he decides. But still…

He feels more irked than usual at the asymmetrical appearance of light shown on the ceiling. 

He huffs out and turns over his right side so he can turn on his other lamp. His fingers barely brush against the switch when-

“Why do you do that?”

A voice calls out to him from somewhere inside his head (it’s gotta be there, right?!) and he recognizes the voice almost instantly.

“What’s wrong Medusa? Aren’t you supposed to be joining your sisters by now?” He still feels tense as he questions the witch. 

There’s a question that even he as a Shinigami can’t fucking answer.

Why and how on earth is she still alive after Crona’s assault?!

The witch looks bored, a sharp contrast to the smirk she’s trying to hide. “Well, who knows Shinigami? And my sisters aren’t actually very interested in me, you should know that by now, after all…”   
His world is plunged into darkness. He’s so startled by the sudden change that he takes a step back, only to bump into Medusa, her slender arms circling him tight. “Now, I believe I asked you a question.” 

He’s goddam certain that her voice and everything that’s happening is all inside his head.

His own hell inside his head.

“Well Medusa, that’s something I have to do as a Shinigami.”

“What, be a pathetic whelp?”

“No, but it’s just something.”

She finally lets him go and he stumbles forward, just catching himself before he falls. 

“Well then, I assume you know what’s about to happen?” Medusa wonders.

He knows. Does he know? How long ago was he supposed to know?!

“Go on, Deathchild. Wreck havoc on this beloved city of yours. Create, let’s say, your own perfect landscape.” She closes her eyes and then snaps them again, a frightening, splitting image of insanity splattered on her features,

“Destroy this city and make it yours. After that, engulf this planet with Madness,”

There’s still a little bit of himself left inside the pool of Madness growing inside him. “And if I don’t?” 

She snickers as she fades out of view. “Simple. Your friends will simply be next in line for this task, should you fail.”

Her menacing laugh finally has him jerk awake, Order screeching in his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maka definitely prefers these nights to the sleepless ones back before the Battle on the Moon. She’s cleaning the kitchen slowly, for once, and humming to herself. Soul’s on the couch, half channel-surfing and half falling asleep. 

She wishes these nights could go on for as long as they can. 

But no. 

Everyone’s shocked awake from their trance when an explosion goes off, disrupting the TV signal. Maka gasps and holds her breath, and she can hear Soul do the same thing. 

The next explosion flickers off the lights in their apartment. 

After a few aftershocks, all of Death City is plunged into darkness. 

“What the hell was that?!” 

Maka takes a sharp breath, “I have no idea…”

They slowly walk over to the window in hopes of putting some sense into this.

It’s only then when they see Kid fly by, Wavelength gone haywire, shooting up the city. 

“Well…that explains something…” Soul observes 

“You think?!”

“But still, it’s not as creepy as the Souls floating over by the plaza.”

“Fuck.” Maka breathes out.

“Guess we got a nasty one on our hands tonight.”

They spot Black Star running down the streets.

“Ready, Soul?”

“You know it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are two things Maka did not wish to see tonight-or any night, for the matter-: the first one being catching Soul off-guard and seeing him rubbing at the scar on his chest (he flinched when Maka caught him and denied the itch but when Maka pressed, he said that he’s ok), and the second being Kid zipping in the sky, wreaking havoc and destroying. It wasn’t just the sight of Kid doing that that disturbed her, but the look in his eyes.

They were cold and wild even in the split second he saw her. It sent a violent chill across her back. 

She shakes her head and focuses on the task at hand: destroying the Kishin Egg that wondered inside the city in the middle of Kid’s attack. Which, by the way, have been swarming the goddam city for the past couple of hours in search of the frenzied Madness that called them over. The dozens of innocent human Souls show the process they have made, but it’s still not enough people saved from the Pre-Kishins. 

“Maka! There they are!” Soul snaps her out of her train of thought as she focuses on her (5th) target (of the night).

She eyes them, peering at them with eyes full of disgust as it plucks a human Soul floating next to it. 

“I guess tonight I’ve hit the jackpot!” They cackle. 

“Yep, you’re lucky enough to sliced out by us two!”

The Kishin Egg turns around, surprised. Maka dashes towards them and prepares her attack: “Soul Resonance!” she and Soul shout out. 

She feels her wavelength ease down and then rise up to match her partner’s. “Great Traditional Techniques of the Scythe-meister: Witch Hunter!” she chants out and Soul’s blade glows a brilliant stark as it grows. She slices the Kishin Egg open with ease, twisting her hips to get it done faster. It bursts into wisps and coalesces into a red soul. 

“We’ve gotta get moving. We don’t know if there are any more Kishin Eggs attracted to the state of the city anymore.” Soul observes.

“You’re right, let’s get going!” She replied

After another couple fights, she tries to ignore the burning sensation in her legs from running all night long. It’s almost second nature: slicing open the bad guys in order to unlock Soul’s Death Scythe powers. It almost feels nostalgic; sneaking out into the middle of the night whenever they couldn’t sleep to scout the city for potential Kishin Eggs. She’s snapped out of her thought process when she hears a loud buzzing sound coming from nowhere on the ground. She looks up, and finds a single black light-darker than the night sky. She stands there, dumbfounded as Soul reverts back to his human form to look better.

“What the hell is that?” he uttered.

“No idea.” she offered.

They stay there as it starts pulsing, and ribbons of darkness spew out of it, long and wide enough to pull a dome around-

“Maka! We have to leave Death City, now!” Soul barks out. He grabs his meister’s hand and starts running. After they turn the corner of their block, they spot Tsubaki and Black Star running out of the city as well. 

“Yo, Black Star and Tsubaki! Do you guys know what that thing in the sky is?” Maka shouts when they catch up with them.

He barely turns his face when he shouts out, “Of course not! I saw Kid up in some sort of frenzy and when I got out of the house to do something, a swarm of Kishin Eggs just attacked Tsu and I! We lost Kid about half an hour ago, but I assume that thing is his doing.” 

“Anyway, we have no idea what it is or what it can do, so we should escape the city and figure it out. Stein and the others are already outside.” Tsubaki informs 

They’re a couple of blocks away when they see the dome circle the sky around them and starts lowering itself. In response, they all run faster to make it out before it’s too late. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They can barely see Death City thanks to the veil of darkness coating it, but the smiling Sun up in the sky provides some light into it. The city is left in ruins, the only salvageable things are the rubble left over from the houses and other buildings. Shibusen still stands, tall and gloomy compared to the miserable state of the remaining buildings. 

“Professor Stein, do you have any idea what that dome around the city is?” Ox questions.

Stein clears his throat and twists his screw before replying , “It must be some sort of manifestation of Kid’s Madness and it coalesced around Death City since it’s the closest he could do in a short time.”

The remaining Deathscythes, as for the former group of Spartoi all made it to the outskirts of Death City the previous night barely unscathed. They all figured out that they can all easily get in and out without any harm when Sid and Nygus came through early in the morning. Black Star suggested they all went through and “smack Kid back to his senses”. 

“Black Star, you know better than anyone here how unwise it is to show up in enemy territory without a basic plan.” Sid reprimanded. 

He sighed, “Then what to you all suggest? The sooner we do this, the better.”

“I think it’d be best if we all split up and take on any Kishin Eggs that should be in the way, and then we meet up in the front of the school so we can scour it and find Kid. Then, we’ll take what he has to offer.” Nygus insisted. 

“Sounds like a plan then. Do we go now or tonight?” Soul quipped

“It would be best to go in during the night, so we’ll be better concealed.” Marie supplied. “And I’ll stay here with Stein and Spirit. I still don’t know if Kid’s Madness can affect Stein or the child.” 

“It would also be best that we all wait for each other in the schoolyard; nobody goes in until everybody’s with us.” Maka said

Everybody agreed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The crisp night air of Death City feels light in Maka’s lungs as she spars against the third Kishin Egg in the hour. It’s been more or less the same with all of them they’ve encountered: talk them down, slice them up, and store the soul underneath any nearby rubble. This Kishin Egg, however, is putting up a harsher fight thanks to its quicker reflexes and cloaking ability. 

“I betcha you can’t see me now, missy!” they taunted as Maka swung and missed the fifth time around. 

“Maka, let’s resonate! Maybe the increased wavelength will give you a better Soul Perception!” Soul offered.

“It’s worth a shot.” 

As she takes a deep breath, the Kishin Egg attacks Maka, slicing across her arm. Maka screams out in surprise and kicks the Kishin Egg out of reflex, sending it back a couple of feet. She winces as she checks her arm: it’s a deep cut which suggests the enemy’s use of a blade and there’s blood gushing out of it. 

“Maka! Are you okay?” Soul worriedly asks.

“Soul, can we use the Black Blood inside you to focus on the enemy?” Maka suggests. “I know it’s a risk, but we gotta get to Kid! This is our last Kishin Egg fight before we reach the school!”

Soul hesitates a bit at his meister’s stubbornness.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! Just let me know when it’s enough for you.” 

Soul focuses and taps into that pure power that he hasn’t used in a long, long time. He keeps Maka’s sanity in check as he hears her slowly descend into Madness by cackling out, “I don’t know…heh heh heh… what’s so funny~.” 

She opens her eyes and stars flash as the Kishin Egg runs to attack her. Maka stops them by using the same arm they tore as a shield with the hardened blood. 

Maka flashes her a twisted grin before she swings her scythe to slice open the monster. She manages to slice her coat, which renders the cloaking mechanism useless. Now that Maka can see them better, she approaches them and chants out Witch Hunter as the enemy cowers back in fear. 

Maka pays no mercy as she slices them open, Black Blood of their own sputtering out of them. As a last resort, one of the droplets turns itself into a needle, and stabs Maka on her stomach. The enemy twitches as they’re reduced to a red floating soul. 

As the Black Blood wears off, Maka comes back to her senses and notices the pain of the wound on her abdomen, still hardened. 

“Soul, are you okay?” She checks

“Yeah, you didn’t go too far down this time so I’m good.” He sighs out.

“Let’s go over to the schoolyard, I’m sure everybody’s waiting for us there.”

“Fine, but we’re gonna stop by the nurse’s office to check out that needle on your stomach. If it’s Black Blood left by the enemy, then we have to know if it got into your bloodstream. Let’s get- what’s wrong?!” He stops as soon as he hears Maka yelp out. He switches back to his human form to see her crouched over, both hands holding her stomach. She lets out a cough, groaning out when she feels something splatter on the ground in front of her. Soul eyes it: it’s Black Blood.

“Maka, don’t freak out, but I’m pretty sure that that needle entered your bloodstream.” Soul worriedly says.

“Yeah, no shit.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After meeting with everyone in the schoolyard, Maka and Soul go off to the nurse’s office to at least patch up Maka’s arm wound. 

Once inside, Maka lets out a shuddering breath he didn’t know she was holding.   
“How’re you feeling, Maka?”   
“I don’t know. I’m scared because that cut on my arm does not hurt. And I’m scared because I don’t know how to manage this Black Blood inside me.” She rambles out

“Listen, Maka. I had a hard time with the Black Blood at first, too. But, you’re a fast learner. And you just have to remain calm and try not to get carried away if we ever use the Black Blood in battle again, alright? Besides, I think it’s badass that now we’ve got more in common. So, don’t worry, cuz we’re all here to support you.” He consoles

“Thanks, Soul. It’ll come in handy in battles. I could get slashed and I can just harden the blood for a while until we get back, right?” She offers

“You can do that, sure. But it’s not as easy as Crona made it look.”

She stares out the window, the glow of human souls giving some light into the office.

“Yeah, you might be right. Now, let’s patch this up! We’ve got Kid to save!” She announced with glee. 

He finds the band-aid and helps her wrap it around her arm and some on her stomach to close the wound. 

He hopes she could stay this cheerful for the upcoming battle. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Medusa was pleased that her plan was working out just fine. 

It was all perfect! Nobody would suspect it was her who took control of the Shinigami and molded him to destroy the city he was raised in.

Everybody assumed she was long gone after Crona’s assault, but no. 

Thanks to her ability to transfer her own soul, she survived her child’s assault by a very thin margin, being able to transfer her soul to one of the dead civilian’s in the nearby hospital. And after a couple of hours, returned to her (Arachne’s) body. She did spend time tinkering on herself to heal the wounds caused by Crona (while experimenting with alternate methods to spread her Black Blood). 

She knew the new Shinigami would be the perfect target, having similar wavelength to his brother’s, and she could spread Madness quickly around the world. But she wanted all the credit to herself. She wants to be blamed for the world’s demise, not that new Shinigami.

That’s the reason why Kid is on the floor, unconscious, while his weapons tend to the wound Medusa caused.   
“Do you wish to tell us why he’s on the floor and not crazy?” Liz snapped

“Well, he was being an errant child. He did not wish to comply to my rules, so I made the Black Blood inside of him stab him on the side so it would get out. It’s now useless to him.” The witch explained calmly. 

“So, what do you plan to do now?” Liz hissed.

“Simple, I am-” 

“Going to stop you right there!” Black Star interrupted

The doors to the Death Room burst open, and Black Star came in dashing first, landing a strike on Medusa before she teleported away. 

Everybody else came in, one by one to finally take down Medusa.

“We heard everything, Medusa. And your plan ends right here, right now!” Black Star declared.

“Oh, but you did not let me finish, dear one. Tell me, how do you expect to defeat me here without your Deathscythe, huh?” Medusa taunted

“Because he’s right here!” Soul called out.

She just needs to get rid of the obstacle, and then she can finish her plan. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Maka surges towards Medusa, anger seething in her eyes. 

Medusa dashes away, using a Vector plate. Maka swings and lands a blow on the witch, her blood spattering to the floor . 

Maka steps back, readying Demon Hunter to finish Medusa. Medusa takes notice of the bandages on Maka’s right arm, an inky, black substance seeping through the cloth.

And it just clicks.

“Well, well, well.” Medusa coos out. In the blink of an eye, she’s gone. Maka whips her head when she feels a chill run up her spine and her eyes meet Medusa’s crazed ones. With one blow to her nape, Maka’s knocked out. 

Soul clatters to the ground and is pushed away by the Vector plates Medusa placed around Maka; all facing outside so nobody can touch her.   
“Maka!” Soul calls out

“Oh, don’t worry about her, dear. You’re the one who’s going to cause trouble for us later, should she behave…” Medusa advised. She lets one of her Light Snakes on her arm go towards Maka.

“And now, I need to deal with all of you…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Maka opens her eyes, all she sees is darkness. 

She’s there, and she can see herself. But she sees no light cast on her or her casting a shadow of any kind. 

There’s definitely a ground beneath her, she can feel that with her palms as she pushes herself up. She takes in a deep breath, ignoring the stinging pain of the wound on her right arm. She notices that it feels a bit too warm on the bandages covering the gash. She finally takes notice of something black snapping out of her arm and she screams out in pain as a fucking snake just slithers out of the gash. It slithers all the way to the ground and leaves a trail of Black Blood behind it. 

This is just another mindscape, Maka. Get yourself together before you lose it-

Hello, Albarn. 

Medusa?!

She tries to focus on the snake right in front of her. It’s long, a color darker than the darkness surrounding them, and the red of her slithering tongue a sharp contrast from the darkness. 

“What do you want, you witch?” Maka spits out

Now, now. I just need you for a special mission, Albarn. How does that Black Blood feel in you?

Suddenly self-conscious about her own blood, Maka shivers. “Just peachy, thank you very much.” She quips

I’m glad you feel great with it dear, how would you like to help me?

“The answer’s no, you witch.”

Snake-Medusa lets out a long sigh.   
C’mon now. You. Me. And Madness all together. That Black Blood inside you will play a nice catalyst. With your amazing Soul Perception, you could manipulate the Madness within everyone on this miserable planet. 

If you don’t do as I say, I’ll simply use that Deathscythe you always use. 

Imagine him, broken beyond repair, using his and your Black Blood together. The Madness Wavelength that will create. 

Maka tries not to think about it: her friends and family thrown into the deep wave of Madness. She feels panic surge up in her chest and tries to calm it down. 

No. 

They will not suffer through anything. 

She can and will bring an end to Medusa’s threats. 

Right here. 

Right now. 

She closes her eyes and focuses on her friends outside, in the real world, protecting her physical body.

She loves them all for a reason. 

She would die for them if it came for it, going down swinging. 

And she knows they would, too. 

She feels her grip on sanity tighten, and strolls over to Medusa. 

She knows what to do. 

If this is a manifestation of Medusa’s soul, then this could work. 

“Medusa?”

Hmm?

“This is from Crona, you evil witch.”

She raises her foot as high as she can, and strikes her heel on Snake-Medusa’s head. She hears Medusa yell out in pain, and increases the pressure of her hell, finally bringing down her entire boot over Snake-Medusa’s head. 

Snake-Medusa tries writhing away, but Maka brings down her other foot to keep Medusa in place.

She writhes and writhes and writhes.

Until she stops completely.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maka wakes up on something way, way softer than the ground. She pries open her eyes and notices she’s back in the infirmary. Judging by the looks of outside, it’s early in the morning. Watery sunlight fills the room and she looks around to find Soul resting his head on the bed Maka’s resting on. She softly giggles at the sight of drool on the sheets where his head is. On her other side (on the nightstand) , there’s a card signed by her father. She stretches her good arm and reads it.

“Get well soon, Maka! You fought bravely against that witch. Get plenty of rest. Love, Papa”

She hears the soft cracking of Soul’s bones as he stretches by her side, shaken awake by her moving around the bed. 

“G’mornin’, Maka.” He grumbles out. 

“Morning, sleeping beauty.” She chuckles 

He groans out and stretches his back, “How do you feel? That arm good?”

She looks down at her right arm, all cleaned up and stitched and bandaged. “Yep, it’s good. How long was I out?” She yawned

“Not much, you slept all night though.” He supplied

She hums out an okay. 

“By the way, what happened after, I dunno what happened. But I think I destroyed Medusa’s mindscape?” she said

He chuckled out, “Nah, after you did whatever you did in your mindscape Kid came to his senses. Everyone was relieved he was okay and such. Medusa’s physical body just…faded away. She stopped fighting us and she faded away. Kid is working with the rest of the Witch Council to find Medusa, but assures us that we’re safe as of for now. Nobody knows if Medusa is either dead or alive… After that, since the barrier fell down, Stein and the others came through. He said that the human souls are returning to their respective hosts’ and people are working together to rebuild Death City. Stein patched you up and Marie and Tsubaki brought you here, by the way.” He supplied

She clasped his hand in hers, “Thanks. For staying by my side.”

“Of course, that’s what a good weapon does: look out for their meister.”

“And is Kid okay?”

He thinks about it for a second before replying, “Yeah, I think so. His Black Blood wore off, so he’s free from the influence of Madness. But he apologized for bringing us all into this mess.”

“He’s too humble, that wasn’t his fault.”

“I know, but he still feels guilty about destroying the city and bringing chaos over for a visit.” He sighed out. 

“So, what now?” Maka asked after the silence stretched too long. 

“Well, when Stein says so, we can go help the others with rebuilding the city. He doesn’t want me to leave your side so, I guess we’re stuck together.” He groans out

She nudges his shoulder. “Oh! Shut up, you like being with me!” she teased

He chuckles out, “Of course I do, silly. We’re gonna be together for a long time.”

She laughs. 

With Medusa no longer an imminent threat, Death City can thrive under the peace that’s about to come. 

It might not be as quiet as she likes it. 

But she’ll take it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this~! Make sure to check out daciafu's art and stay tuned for the rest of the works coming out this month for Reverb 2017~   
> (everybody worked hard on this give us love and we'll give u a cookie)
> 
> <3


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